This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the-prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-143425, filed May 14, 2001, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical apparatuses including lenses, such as a camera and observation apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in an optical apparatus, a plurality of lens groups constituting an optical system are contained/disposed in a lens holding frame, the lens holding frame is positioned and assembled in a frame member, and the frame member is mounted in a lens barrel of the optical apparatus such as a camera. In order to sufficiently fulfill capabilities of the optical system, the plurality of lens groups are required to be accurately positioned relative to each other. To make this possible, various lens adjustment techniques for accurately adjusting the positions of the plurality of lens groups have been proposed.
Examples of the techniques include a method of disposing a predetermined gap between the lens holding frame which holds a lens and the frame member into which the lens holding frame is assembled, using this gap to adjust the position of the lens holding frame in a plane at right angles to an optical axis, and positioning and bonding or otherwise fixing the lens holding frame onto the frame member after the adjustment.
Moreover, in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-271587, a technique of disposing two eccentric pins, rotating/operating these eccentric pins, and adjusting positions in two directions substantially at right angles to each other is proposed.
However, in the former method, the positions can be adjusted with a simple constitution, but there are many degrees of freedom in the adjustment direction of the lens holding frame, and operation properties are not satisfactory. For example, some kind of adjustment device is required to perform an accurate adjustment. Furthermore, according to this method, after the lens holding frame is adjusted, the frame is fixed to the frame member by measures such as an adhesive. Therefore, there is a problem that the optical axis suffers a positional deviation during the bonding operation.
Moreover, in the latter technique described in the Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-271587, when one of two eccentric pins is operated, the lens holding frame rotates centering on the other eccentric pin, and it is difficult to perform a high-precision adjustment.
As described above, in an optical apparatus including a lens, there is the disadvantage that it is very troublesome to adjust the position of the lens mounted on the lens holding frame.
An object of the present invention is to provide an optical apparatus in which high-precision lens position adjustment can conveniently and easily be realized with a simple constitution.
According to the present invention, there is provided an optical apparatus comprising a lens holding frame which holds a lens; and a frame member to support the lens holding frame so that the lens holding frame can move along a plane substantially vertical to the optical axis of the lens, wherein a gap is formed between the outer periphery of the lens holding frame and the inner periphery of the frame member, and an adjustment member is inserted in the gap, so that the position of the lens holding frame relative to the frame member in the plane is set.
According to the above construction, when the position of the lens holding frame is adjusted with respect to the frame member, the adjustment member is inserted in the gap between the frame and the member, and the frame and member are moved/adjusted in the plane substantially vertical to the optical axis of the lens by an amount corresponding to the size of the adjustment member. The relative positions are thereby determined by the adjustment member in an adjustment position. Therefore, a simple construction is obtained. Additionally, high-precision positional adjustment of the lens optical axis is realized with the simple operation of selecting the size of the adjustment member and inserting the member in the gap.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.